


Catcher

by minghaon



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, M/M, Violence, super powers, there will be blood - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-07-28 21:37:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7657639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minghaon/pseuds/minghaon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where catchers catch one power, Chan catches two. </p><p>There's no safe place in this world for people like them. There's people looking for them everywhere - the government, hunters, everyone. There's not one safe place for them to rest and feel at home. But for some reason, they don't stop trying to find one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fic I've already written 13 chapters of, but since I didn't really like the writing, I decided to rewrite it to make it better. I might change a bit of the plot along the way, but I'm really not sure about it at all.   
> I've decided to change some of the pairings from the original, some are still the same however.

_"Is this Lee Jihoon?"_

_"Yes, it is. Who am I talking to?"_

Jihoon doesn't really care about it when he looks at his phone and sees the time. It's 05:37 am - too early if you ask him, yet he's 37 minutes late. Waking up in the morning has never been his best skill and it most likely never will be either.

_"My name is Jung Pilgyo. I'm your mother's lawyer."_

It had been a long time since he had spoken with his mother. A lot of times his phone had been ringing and he’d been about to answer it, only to find out that it was his mother calling. He didn’t answer the phone at those times.

_"I'm sorry to tell you that your mother has passed away."_

Jihoon looks outside the window when he gets to the airport. Knowing that he has to get out of the car and into the airport to face what’s waiting him, he deliberately stays a little longer in the safeness of the car.  Letting a small sigh leave his lips, his head falls to rest on the steering wheel. Moving isn’t on the top of his list of priorities, but he’ll have to do it anyways.

_"That doesn't have anything to do with me."_

It’s cold outside, the wind running right through the material of his thin jacket.

_"You have a brother who needs a place to stay."_

_"Why? Why would he have to stay with me? Doesn't he have a father?"_

Brazing himself for what’s about to come he walks towards the airport entrance.

_"His father died together with your mother."_

_"He can't stay with me."_

The door feels heavy as he pushes it open.

_"Jihoon, he's a catcher."_

\--

It’s not hard to find the people he’s looking for.

Scanning the empty space, his eyes lands on the only two people in the big hall who are not him. It’s a young boy and an adult in a suit.

The boy is sitting by himself on the bench. A cap is placed on his head, hiding his hair from sight and a pair of earphones is stuffed into his ears. His eyes are closed tightly as his head bobs up and down with the loud music. His eyes stay pressed together as Jihoon walks closer.

The man with the boy doesn’t sit down. He keeps on walking back and forth, eyes wandering around the room in nervousness along his small stroll. The black suit that fits perfectly around his body tells Jihoon who he is. He is Jung Pilgyo.

Pilgyo looks up in anxiety, when he hears steps coming closer. A sigh of relief falls from his mouth, when his eyes fall on Jihoon.

Not a second is wasted as Pilgyo walks to him. His hand is stuck out towards Jihoon as a gesture to take a handshake. Jihoon does.

"Let's talk a little bit," Pilgyo says, eyes once again wandering the hall as if he’s looking for any kind of danger that might be there. Jihoon doesn’t know exactly what the other male is so afraid of, but he decides to trust him and not ask any questions what so ever.

Not having a choice, Jihoon nods his head and lets himself be pulled a bit away from the boy – his brother.

Nothing is said about him being late. It’s a surprise, when the shorter had expected the older to say something about it. It does seem like other things are more important right now though.

"I'm sorry about this," Pilgyo says getting straight to the point.

He’s restless. His eyes don’t stay still on Jihoon for more than a couple of minutes, before they leave and look around the hall over and over again. He’s trying to make sure that nobody’s listening in on their conversation. Once in awhile they also finds their way to his brother as if he’s making sure that the younger male is okay.

Somebody is looking for them.

"His parents didn't die in an accident," the lawyer tells him.  This time he’s looking directly into his eyes, gaze not wavering the least. There’s a short glimpse of green and Jihoon knows that he’s one of them too.

"They were killed," Pilgyo informs him, lowering his voice to a whisper. It’s yet another way to feel totally alone.  "They are looking for him. The government is looking for him too. They know that there’s a catcher without a guardian out there. A minor. Don't let them get him. Don't let them get _you_."

Jihoon knows about this. Of course he does. The government is looking for people like them. They say that they’d like to protect them from whatever, but everybody knows it’s not true. You don’t have to be a catcher hiding for them to know. Even normal people know, so Jihoon doesn’t get why they’re still trying to make people believe that.

Knowing that it’s necessary for him to know and that there’s really no way around the question, Jihoon sighs before saying anything.

“Which powers does he have?”

He’s his brother after all. It’s necessary for him to know.

"His parents’ powers,” Pilgyo answers expression as serious as it can be. Before Jihoon gets the chance to ask, the lawyer answers his question, “Yes both of them.”

Something turns in his stomach as his brain registers the words and the new information. Jihoon knows about his mother’s power and he knows how much bad comes with it. If he could choose, it wouldn’t be something he’d make anyone go through. He remembers all of the nights from before his mother left, when she’d think that he was sleeping and she’d cry into her pillow at night. It’s hell. Her power is hell.

What kind of power Chan’s father had had, he doesn’t know but one thing he does know is that every power comes with a good and a bad site – sometimes mostly only bad sites.

The news always called them gifts, but every catcher knows that that’s not true. It’s all curses. Their cursed humans – not gifted ones.

Jihoon wants to ask other questions, but the look in the lawyer’s eyes, as he starts to glance around more frightened than before, tells him that it might be time for them to leave the place.

"Take care of him, okay? Your mother wanted him to be safe,” Pilgyo tells him, deliberately not mentioning the part where none of them actually knows whether or not he can be safe.

Jihoon doesn’t ask why Pilgyo wants to do what his mother asked of him so much, but he wonders about it anyways.

Sending a glance in the direction of the boy – his brother – he notices how he’s still bopping his head up and down along with the music. Somehow it gives him a brotherly feeling in his heart, and he can’t help but think about how cute the younger boy actually looks.

Though he might not be that fond of his mother, Jihoon knows that those ill feelings shouldn’t affect his brother’s right to safety and a place to stay – even if that place to stay would only be temporarily.

Eyes still on his brother, the thought of Chan’s current situation enters his mind. Two powers had already been caught by the young boy. Would he possibly be able to catch more?

\--

Earphones still tucked neatly into his ears, Chan looks out of the window in an attempt to soothe himself. It’s supposed to work, yet somehow it just adds fuel to the sick feeling he has in his stomach.

Eyes falling on the male by his side – he’s apparently his brother – Chan feels the other’s thoughts seep into his brain and mix with his own. Soon he can’t separate them and he’s too tired to try, hence he just closes his eyes and lets his stupid power do whatever it wants.

It’s like there’s a child in his head in the form of a power. There’s no control over it and it does exactly what it wants to do, not allowing him to have a say in any of it.

One thought keeps on appearing, and he knows for a fact that that one is not his, hence he decides to answer the question out loud.

“I can hear your thoughts,” he whispers, only just loud enough for the other to hear him.

The answer the older says is not loud enough for him to hear with the loud music still running into his ears. It’s not really like he’s in the mood to talk right now anyways, so he tells himself that it’s fine for him not to let his brother start a conversation.

Once again his eyes move to look out of the window. The trees are moving by fast, and that makes the realization hit him like a bird dropping from the sky falling on his shoulder. His actually moving to a new place to live with his brother and his friends that he’s never met before. It’s not really the most thrilling thought, but he doesn’t have much of a choice.

Ever since his parents died in a car accident his head has been a mess. Not once has there been a bit of silence. Even his dreams don’t feel like they’re his own anymore. It’s as if all the thoughts he’s heard throughout the days mixes together to a dream at night – never letting him rest even once.

Pilgyo had told him a bit about it. He had been told about his powers and about catchers – some of it was things he’d already known from the news. Every time he’d asked a question, Pilgyo told him that it was better that he didn’t know more about it. It was so confusing to him. He knew nothing.

Not knowing why Chan’s eyes fall on his brother again. It’s weird. His mother never told him that he had a brother – that she had another child. That was a very confusing part of it all as well. He didn’t know why and he wasn’t really sure that the truth about it was a good one either.

His body jerks to the side in shock, when he feels his earphone being pulled out of his ear. Looking towards the direction, he finds his brother’s amused face looking at him before it once again switches towards the road in front of him.

"You're confused aren't you?" the question falls from the elder’s lips with his eyes glued on the road.

Confusion isn’t a word strong enough to describe what he’s feeling right now. A word that would be better to describe his current state of mind would rather be a word in between complete confusion and nearly panicking.

Chan just nods, figuring that that’s the enough of an answer for the older. As if his body has planned it he moves to look out the window again.

Seeing how the younger doesn’t seem to be in the mood to talk, Jihoon doesn’t try to press more words out of him. He knows how overwhelming all of this can be.

Jihoon’s not exactly happy about this whole thing, but he has to protect this boy. He has some kind of feeling of responsibility towards the other – even though it’s only been about an hour since they met – and he really wants to do everything to make him feel safe. Maybe it’s his natural instincts as a brother, who knows? It’s not like he’s tried to be a brother before. This is the first time.

Nobody knows what’s going to happen in the future, Jihoon thinks. Maybe he’ll ask Junhui about it later.

Silence embraces the car.

The volume of Chan’s music has been turned on maximum volume. Jihoon can hear it and he wants nothing more than to ask him to turn it down a bit, because he might hurt his ears. But then he realizes that he doesn’t actually have a right to tell him what to do, so he doesn’t.

The younger’s focus is fixed on the trees moving past the windows, and Jihoon’s focus goes back to the road. He doesn’t want them to get into an accident because he can’t keep his focus off of his brother.

None of them says anything to interrupt the silence. It’s only broken when the car suddenly stops with a bump.

The small frame of Jihoon hits the steering-wheel and a pained cry leaves his mouth at the impact. This was not because of his driving. This was not supposed to happen.

Turning his head towards the younger boy next to him, the panic is clear in the boy’s expression. There’s panic in his wide eyes as he lets out a small whimper and his hands find their way to his ears, pressing against them as to keep out voices that Jihoon can’t hear.

"There are no good thoughts," he whispers, voice filled with nothing but fear. His pupils are shaking, when Jihoon looks him in the eyes and he knows that, yes, the younger is indeed very frightened.

This is far from good.

"For fucks sake," Jihoon mumbles.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "There are no good thoughts," he whispers, voice filled with nothing but fear. His pupils are shaking, when Jihoon looks him in the eyes and he knows that, yes, the younger is indeed very frightened. 
> 
> This is far from good. 
> 
> "For fucks sake," Jihoon mumbles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also posted on asianfanfics

"For fucks sake," Jihoon mumbles.

His hand shoots hurriedly towards the door, locking all of the doors in the car. Knowing that now is not the best time to panic – Chan is clearly terrified by his side and Jihoon doesn’t really blame him at all – he tries to smile an encouraging smile to tell his brother that everything’s going to be fine. That’s not something he himself believes either though.

"Don't say anything," he whispers to the younger as he fumbles for his phone in his jacket pockets. After what feels like an hour, he finally finds the small electronic devise and lets out a relieved sigh.

Browsing through the contacts – there are only 13, making it a rather easy task – he finds Seungcheol’s number hurriedly. Not knowing how much time he has left for this he presses the call button, and hopes for the older boy to answer the call as fast as possible.

After the first ring, he does.

"Where are you?" That’s the first sentence sounding from the other end of the phone, as Seungcheol answers the phone. The worry is clear in his voice and Jihoon imagines how he’s probably pacing back and forth in from of the other worried faces of their friends.  

"Ask Hansol he'll know.” That’s the only sentence that hurriedly leaves his mouth before he ends the call.

The look Chan sends him is filled with fear. The boy’s body is shaking a lot and Jihoon chooses to believe that it’s from the cold and not from fear. It doesn’t matter how much he knows that, no, it’s not from the cold.

Looking the younger boy directly into his eyes, Jihoon tries to ignore the shadows slowly gathering around the car. The boy isn’t good at hiding his fear, but the older of the two doesn’t really blame him the least. This must be the first time he experiences anything like this. If only he could have prevented this – he couldn’t. It was impossible.

"Touch people if you need to,” Jihoon tells him, glancing out of the window to get an overview of where the shadows are.

There are six of them, he counts. They’re all way bigger than both of them. Their big figures makes them look scarier than they would have without them.

Chan is staring at him, eyes wide with clear fear. The voice coming from his mouth is shaking, when he tries to talk.

“I- I can’t,” he gets out.

Jihoon knows. The aftereffect of him touching people won’t be anything great – that’s what their mother always cried about at night. The horrific nightmares that’d invade her mind even though the memories weren’t even her own.

Jihoon knows, but if that’s the only way to protect his brother, that’ll have to be the case.

There are six men in front of the car. They’re all wearing creepy grins on their faces, probably confident that it’ll be easy for them to win against them. Sadly, Jihoon thinks that they might have a reason to be confident. It’s hard to beat six men twice their size.

Eyes fixed on the car, the men walks towards them with slow steps. They take their time, looking at them as if they’re animals in a cage waiting to get slaughtered.

“Do it if you need to,” Jihoon orders him, accidently making eye contact with one of the men who’s currently standing on the other side of the car.

His eyes are black. He’s normal – he’s not a catcher like them. That small piece of information makes Jihoon’s nerves calm just a tiny bit. It gives them a very small advantage.

“B-but,” Chan tries to reason his brother. Tears are running down his cheeks by now, and the older of the two can’t blame him.

“It’s that or dying,” Jihoon tells him without sugarcoating it the least. He might not die as soon as they get him, but in that situation it might be better to just die. Nobody knows what they – whoever they are – might do to you.

The sound of someone breaking a window startles both of them; even though Chan should have been able to tell that it would happen. The fear latched onto the younger boy prevents him from thinking his own thoughts.

"When I tell you to run, you run," Jihoon whispers quietly to his brother, seeing the panic-stricken expression on the other’s face.

Normally Chan would have some kind of heroic thoughts stating that he shouldn’t leave his brother alone to fight, but right at the moment he was too scared to think like that. There was no place in his brain for it as well as no time.

When Jihoon slams the door open without un-locking it first, the guy in front of it falls back and slides over the ground until the movement stops about a meter from where he had been standing seconds before. It’s shocking to the man, yet it doesn’t take long before he once again stands as he lets out a disapproving sound. The loss to such a young boy only aggravates the man further, making him charge forward towards the boy.

The moment the man has made his way in front of Jihoon again, he sends his hand flying in the boy’s direction, hitting him directly in the stomach with. The force from the hit makes it necessary for the boy to take a small step back to steady himself.

Jihoon sees the next punch coming and he dodges just in time to avoid a hit to his head. Instead of letting the man beat him up, he throws a punch in his direction and this time it’s the man who’s hit in the stomach, resulting in the man leaning forward. Not letting the chance fall out of his grasp, Jihoon accompanies the punch with a kick to the head. The effect is immediate as the man falls to the ground – not dead, but unconscious.

That's when Jihoon sends his order towards his younger brother and thinks,

  _"Run."_

Hearing the command among all the other voices in his head, Chan does as he’s told. Un-locking the door by his side with a fast movement, he stumbles out and almost doesn’t manage to prevent himself from falling.

Where to he should run is unknown to him, and he doesn’t get to think about it as he hurries away from the car with stumbling steps.

It doesn’t take long for his run to get interrupted. One of the six men is towering in front of him, making him feel small as he comes closer.

_"Why does boss even want this baby."_

It's clear in Chan's head. It’s the first time in a long time that he hasn’t had trouble with telling a thought apart from the rest that’s drowning his own. Whoever their ‘boss’ is, it seems like they want him alive, yet for some reason the fact doesn’t calm him the slightest.

"Let's see what you can do.”

The man in front of him laughs, when Chan falls to the ground in shock and tries to crawl backwards – as far away as possible.

The approaching man keeps on laughing, giving Chan a free view of his open mouth and throat. It’s disgusting and Chan feels something turn in his stomach. He almost throws up.

Chuckling, the man squats down to sit in front of the scared boy. With a final laugh he places his hand on the now struggling boy’s shoulder. 

Panicking for the nth time that day, Chan grips the man’s hand to remove it from his own form. It’s not necessary to move it the moment their skin touch.

As soon as the boy's hand collides with the man's skin, the man stills and stops moving at all.

What Chan sees is absolutely terrible.

_A little boy is sitting and shaking by himself in a small room. There are no window hence no light enters the room to lighten it up. In different spots on the floor and on the walls is the color red._

_It's blood._

Chan doesn't want to think about what has happened there, but the moment his hand made contact with the man’s skin, he accepted the contract of consequences of knowing his past.

_When the door to the room opens, the boy crawls backwards until his back collides with the wall. The whole of his small body is shaking violently._

_A scream escapes his mouth when a man steps in, looking at him with an evil grin._

That's when Chan can't look anymore and he fights the internal fight to pull himself back to the reality and moves his hand away from the man.

The results of the skin contact were already known to Chan, yet the look of the stiffened man makes the bile raise up his throat. With the still clear pictures in his mind he leans forward and throws up. The man is still caught in the terrible memory and Chan feels a tiny bit bad for him.

Once again Chan doesn’t fail to grip the chance when he sees it, and starts to run without looking back – Jihoon wouldn’t have liked it if he did, he knows that.

Back on his legs, he stumbles forward. Both his sticks feel like jelly, making it harder for him to run that it should have been. Whether if it’s the fear still latched on to his whole being or the toll of using his powers he doesn’t know – it’s probably both of them at the moment.

As he runs further and further away from the place, Jihoon’s thoughts are still heard in his mind - melded together with the men's. It gives him some kind of soothing to know that his brother’s still alive even though he left him there alone.

He doesn’t know how long he’s run nor for how long he’s been running, but his legs are getting more and more tired. Having expected to lose balance and fall at some point, he had prepared himself for the pain of the hard ground underneath him – it doesn’t come however.

When he collapses to the ground, he’s met by a pair of arms. They feel warmer than anything he’s felt in the last three days.

His mind had been set on running, hence he hadn’t noticed the new thoughts enter his mind nor did he notice the silhouettes drawing closer every time he took a step forward.

Being too tired and drained as an aftereffect of everything that had happened, Chan doesn’t have the energy to panic or fight the embrace he gets pulled into.

"Take him to Jisoo," one of the boys says. Chan could probably find out his name, but everything is too overwhelming and there’s a beginning pain in his head.

The long haired boy who caught him nods his head and picks the younger up. Normally he would protest, thinking it was too embarrassed to be carried when he had his own legs. Now is an exception and he lets himself be lifted from the ground. The chest he’s met with is so comfortable – it almost makes him cry.

The pain in his head gets worse and he can’t help but close his eyes, hoping for it to help make it better. It doesn’t take long for him to feel the exhaustion take over as he falls into a much needed sleep.

In his dream he sees the memory that belonged to the man. It’s replayed over and over and goes further than what Chan got to see. His brain already knows the whole story and it makes sure that he knows too, giving him the chance – not the choice – to experience the pain on his own body. It’s all repeated, over and over again.

That's all a part of having gotten this power - and the reason why he doesn't normally touch people.

He really wants to wake up – to be pulled out of the nightmare – but his body is too tired and drained. It needs the rest and it doesn’t care about the discomfort it causes Chan.

He’ll just have to endure it. There’s nothing else for him to do about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me what you think in the comments. Comments gives motivation, cause it tells me that there's actually people who read this story, so please?
> 
> Also, follow me on twitter @minghaon if you want. It's mostly just me promoting gyuhao and complaining about a wonhui fic I'm trying to finish

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me what you think. Comments does a lot and I really relaly want to know what people think of this whole thing, you know. ^^
> 
> Follow me on twitter @/minghaon if you want~


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